The movie Arnold Schwarzenegger hated as a matter of principle: “That is stupid to do”
While he’s one of the single most iconic action stars of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger has put his past behind him during his transition to political ventures. Even if he tends to only reflect positively on his era as one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, there are still a few baffling industry decisions that have ignited his rage.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is one-third of the ‘Planet Hollywood’ trio of action stars that emerged in the 1980s, including Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, and these three actors transformed the industry’s approach to high-energy, violent works of spectacle and spawned countless imitators. Even though comparing their careers may have been challenging, few actors in history had the same charismatic persona that Schwarzenegger adopted.
While it’s been easy to characterise him as a goofball who only makes blockbusters aimed at the broadest possible audience, Schwarzenegger has been surprisingly willing to take chances on auteur filmmakers and given some fairly dynamic performances, and though The Terminator franchise might eventually be what he is best known for, Schwarzenegger also deserves credit for his amazing work in Total Recall, a mind-bending science fiction thriller directed by the great Paul Verhoeven.
Total Recall served as a means for Schwarzenegger to challenge his star persona; he plays a construction worker who dreams of becoming a secret agent, only to discover he might actually be one, since Verhoeven was known for incorporating satire and body horror into his sci-fi endeavours, and he brought those same qualities to Total Recall.
Total Recall was a film that was ahead of its time, but like many classics of the early ‘90s, Hollywood felt the need to remake it. Len Wiseman directed a 2012 reimagining that starred Colin Farrell in the role of Douglas Quaid, the character who Schwarzenegger had played in the original. Although Schwarzenegger has never been a fan of remakes, he singled out Total Recall as being particularly egregious.
“This was the decade where most of the greatest action movies were made, the ’80s into the ’90s, and now of course a lot of companies come and remake them,” Schwarzenegger said. “In most cases, I’m not happy about that, because they’re perfect movies. Why would you redo Total Recall? I was unhappy about it. That is stupid to do.”
While no one would want to be thrown under the bus by Schwarzenegger, it seemed like most critics and audiences tended to agree with him about the Total Recall remake; perhaps the film’s $212million box office gross would be more impressive if it hadn’t already cost $125m to make. The movie isn’t necessarily as bad as other remakes of action classics, such as Point Break or Robocop, but it’s hard to watch a watered-down, less imaginative version of something that had already been done better.
Among the changes between the films was that the 2012 remake did not go to Mars and was limited by a PG-13 rating, which ensured that it couldn’t get nearly as gross and weird as Verhoeven’s version. Schwarzenegger’s comments on Total Recall are fairly scathing, but he’s also proven that a truly great remake can change his mind.
More recently, Schwarzenegger spoke more positively about the remake of his classic Stephen King novella that he starred in; the 2025 version was directed by Edgar Wright and earned Schwarzenegger’s praise, as did its star, Glen Powell.
